New Mexico budget woes bring national teachers union leader

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The national president of the American Federation of Teachers is coming to New Mexico amid the state's budget woes. Randi Weingarten is scheduled to visit Santa Fe on Wednesday as state lawmakers begin a special session that will likely address education funding in one of the nation's poorest states. Weingarten will speak with a coalition of Democratic lawmakers to urge Republican Gov. Susana Martinez not push for education funding cuts. Lawmakers and Martinez mostly agree on a $6.1 billion state budget that would slightly increase spending. But they remain at odds over how to fill a roughly $150 million shortfall in revenues. The governor has repeatedly vowed that she will not raise taxes. Recently, she said she was open to reinstating gross receipts taxes on grocery sales if it would help lower overall tax rates.